You don't need to go back to the Roman empire for insight , just go back to 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union. The failures of institutions and loss of faith by the citizens lead to collapse. This of course was followed by further corruption in the form of western capitalization. And then came Putin to put Russia back together as he saw it. The true irony is that what the corruption in the US is doing is simply lowering the entry cost of their replacement. I remember reading years ago about some college students willing to sell their right to vote for $1000. I thought how could you do that but today I find myself theorizing an argument against doing the same for say, a guarantee that no American citizen will ever go bankrupt in the future due to medical expenses in exchange for Democracy. Americas democracy is like a Bugatti barn find. To most who view it, it is nothing but a collection of historical rust having no value. To others that have the means, it is worth rebuilding at any expense due to the valuation of the few.